The modern dental tooth cleaning procedure is perhaps the most commonly performed procedure in dentistry. Teeth are cleaned by the practitioner by way of a power-driven rotary flexible rubber cup, which contains a quantity of slightly abrasive tooth cleaning paste.
A problem in the art exists with the cleaning paste being thrown off by centrifugal force of the rotating cup. The cleaning cups, more commonly called "prophy cups", which are approximately 6 millimeters in diameters, may rotate at speeds of up to 5,000 RPM. Not only can the paste be thrown from the cup during the procedure, but also saliva and patient blood can likewise splatter. With the advent of concern of containment and protection from sharing bodily fluids in dentistry, there is a need in the art for an effective method of controlling and isolating this splatter of cleaning paste and patient body fluids.
In the past, flexible covers have been used to protect against prophy cup splatter. These shields were fitted on the end of the right-angle handpiece customarily used to drive the prophy cup with the shield remaining stationary while the power-driven cup rotated within the sleeve. This shield reduced splatter, but prior art shields trapped paste between the inner wall of the shield and the rotating cup. Cleaning paste forced into this area wastes paste and the trapped paste can adversely effect the shaft and bearing assembly of the handpiece. The present invention provides a prophy cup shield which solves this problem.
The closest prior art of which the applicant is aware is U.S. Pat. No. 2,943,343 to B. Jankelson, issued Jul. 5, 1960; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,834,726 to W. W. Ozon, issued Dec. 1, 1931. Both of these references show the concept of a prophy shield and therefore are pertinent, but neither teaches or suggests the present invention.